The top legislature Tuesday at the 24th Session of the 10th
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ratified the
Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation with
Afghanistan, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention 1981
with Turkmenistan, a treaty instituting judicial cooperation with
Australia on criminal cases, and an extradition treaty with
Azerbaijan.
The Good-neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between
China and Afghanistan, signed by President Hu Jintao and Afghan
President Hamid Karzai in Beijing on June 19, 2006, says the two
sides will enhance the fight against terrorism, separatism, and
extremism.
"Under the treaty, China and Afghanistan will launch more
military and security cooperation and expand exchanges in trade,
agriculture, science, education, natural resources exploration and
so on," said Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Chinese experts have voiced concern that terrorists and drugs in
Afghanistan are threatening peace and stability in China's western
region.
Signing the treaty will consolidate China-Afghanistan ties, and
be helpful in maintaining peace in Afghanistan and to fight "East
Turkistan" terrorists in western China, source with the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress said.
The Sino-Turkmenistan Cooperative Agreement on Combating the
"Three Evil Forces" says the two countries will share information
and provide technological support.
Suspected terrorists, separatists, and extremists as defined by
the pact should not be denied extradition as political refugees,
the agreement says.
"As the three evil forces have run rampant in central Asia, the
pact will help step up security cooperation between China and
Turkmenistan," said Yang, when briefing lawmakers at the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress last Friday.
The 20-article pact, signed in Beijing in April 3, 2006, is the
third international pact signed by China with other countries to
safeguard regional peace and stability.
China has inked a collective agreement on fighting the three
evil forces with Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan and
Uzbekistan, which are members of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), a regional inter-governmental body.
The second pact was signed with Pakistan, a SCO observer, in
2005.
Established in 2001, the SCO is committed to fighting terrorism,
separatism and extremism in order to maintain regional peace,
security and stability.
The treaty instituting judicial cooperation with Australia shows
the country's efforts in forging an international network to combat
rising cross-border crime.
"With closer political and economic ties and more personnel
exchanges, criminal cases involving China and Australia are on the
rise," Yang said.
Improved judicial cooperation, especially in handling criminal
suspects who go into hiding in Australia, was increasingly
necessary, Yang said.
The treaty will enable China to deal more effectively with
economic crimes in which corrupt officials flee abroad to seek
asylum in developed countries, analysts said.
Australia, which has no capital punishment, can refuse to offer
China legal assistance if a criminal suspect may face a death
sentence in China.
After negotiation, the two countries have finally decided to
omit mention of the death sentence in the treaty, but to "show
enough attention respectively" in the memorandum of talks, a
diplomatic source said.
Under the treaty, the two countries should provide each other
with the "broadest assistance" possible in criminal investigations,
prosecution and litigation.
But the assistance does not include extradition, the treaty
says.
Criminal cases also include offences against finance and tax
laws, according to the treaty.
Police statistics show that 500 suspects wanted for economic
crimes were on the run abroad in 2004. They were accused of crimes
involving a total of more than 70 billion yuan (US$875
million).
A 2004 report released by the research institute attached to the
Ministry of Commerce said about 4,000 Chinese officials suspected
of crimes involving US$50 billion had fled overseas since China
launched economic reforms in 1978.
(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2006)
